Rock icon Paul McCartney also wants to be famous as an environmentalist. Winner of the coveted Peru’s Order of the Cinchona Tree for fighting global warming with his Meat Free Monday campaign (“Less Meat = Less Heat”), the former Beatle made headlines last year when he took to task those nasty climate deniers.

“Some people don’t believe in climate warning — like those who don’t believe there was a Holocaust,” he told London’s Sun newspaper.

So what was McCartney doing tooling around Detroit in that notorious death-camp vehicle, the 17 mpg Chevy Suburban last month?

Before Sir Paul ‘s recent concert at Comerica Park, classic rock WCSX-FM program director Brent Alberts snapped the superstar as he rolled down the window in his earth-frying limo and gave a thumbs-up salute to his fans. “Everybody was screaming,” Alberts told the Detroit News, “and not just the girls, the guys were screaming, too!”

No doubt they were impressed by his pro-planet bona fides.

Perhaps the ex-Beatle was trying to avoid repeating his embarrassment form 2008, when he had his new $158,000 Lexus LS 600h hybrid flown to him in Britain rather than having it sent by ship. “Environmentalists quickly pointed out that the use of a cargo plane to deliver the car to England completely offset any environmental gains resulting from the car’s use,” reported AP.